Con Coughlin is the Telegraph's Defence Editor and a world-renowned expert on global security and terrorism issues. He is the author of several critically acclaimed books. His new book, Churchill's First War: Young Winston and the fight against the Taliban, is published by Macmillan in London and Thomas Dunne Books in New York. He appears regularly on radio and television in Britain and America.

Careless data loss could be very serious for Britain's Armed Forces

It beggars belief that anyone could be so careless as to lose a computer hard drive containing the private details of 100,000 members of our Armed Forces. Even if the hard drive only contains basic information, such as addresses and dates of birth, this could prove deadly if it were to fall into the wrong hands.

We are, after all, a nation at war, and our armed forces are currently engaged on combat operations in two different operational centres – Afghanistan and Iraq. There are many groups and individuals who would like nothing better than the opportunity to cause our service personnel harm. You only have to look at the abuse some of our injured soldiers have received while being treated in British hospitals to see that not everyone in this country is fully supportive of our Armed Forces.

If something like this had happened during the Second World War, it is not inconceivable that those responsible would have found themselves locked up in a prison cell. At the very least the MoD needs to consider whether it wants to continue working with a company which cannot account for such vital information.